Friday, July 19, 2013

Talk is Cheap...

So, for the last couple of days I've laid out a bunch of information about me and what I want to do in getting to the Utah Spartan Super Race. While this is nice and all, talking about it is not going to make it happen. People (in general) spend an inordinate amount of time talking about things they're going to do and rarely execute it.

So, today it's time to lay out a plan:

Tools:MyFitnessPal - An app for my Windows Phone
(I know, not an iPhone or Android - I'm a regular pariah in society) that I can use to track food, exercise, and how much water I've consumed on a daily basis. It also connects to my Facebook and allows me to build a support group of others using the same app. I think the hardest part about this is getting into the habit of recording everything.

Couch to 5K - another app for my phone that builds you up over a nine week period to get from being a lump on the couch to running a 5K race. Let's face it, to be in the Spartan Race, there's going to be some running involved.

My Kinect- Yeah, the Kinect isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, by any means, but some of the games I play on there can really make you sweat. It's not like I'm doing serious cross training with it, but for some good cardio, it works for me. At least for now.

Gym - my work has a free on-site gym to use. Since we recently moved to a brand new building in Draper this past April, the gym is supposed to be pretty state-of-the-art. I need to get in there. I have no excuse to let a an opportunity to use a free gym go by. At least I don't have to join a rip-off gym.

Diet:
Finding a good way to balance busy lifestyle and nutrition might be one of the biggest obstacles I'm going to face. I'm checking around with various websites and might consider joining the Jillian Michaels site for exercise and dietary info, but I'd like to spend as little money as possible. So, I'll come back to that.

Meeting with a nutritionist might be in the plans also. Erin has spoken about meeting up with one, at least once, to get some sense of direction. I'm also sure there are probably a billion e-books out there to download from any number of places.

Exercise:

Here we have the biggest challenge for just about anybody. Exercise. It sucks, makes you sweaty, and overall isn't the most enjoyable experience, right? I always see how great some people look and feel, and all that stuff. I want to be there. I'm just not exactly excited about the journey to get there. But, there are some ways to get there without totally hating it I suppose.

Games - I already mentioned the Kinect. Some of the games I've found that have been pretty awesome to play on there. Dance Centralis a favorite to just get some sweat on. Various difficulties make this game a perfect way to ease up in skill. Plus there are many sequels already. Other workout games like Your Shape Fitness Evolved are popular and really get you going.

These, of course, are mainly good cardio games. Lifting weights on a machine or free weights are better to build strength. Endurance will come from running and extending cardio sessions over time.

I'd also like to get into cross training with something like P90X but yeah, that's some expensive workout. Saving money from going to a gym will help, clearly.

Summary:
So, at this point, talk is cheap, it's time to put it all together and get working.